Boys and Girls Club comes to Estes Park

By Barb Boyer Buck

Trail-Gazette

Posted:
06/06/2014 09:24:53 AM MDT

The Boys and Girls Clubs of America has come to Estes Park and currently serves 75 area youth. (Courtesy Photo / Trail-Gazette)

With the goal of helping kids reach their full potential, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America serve more than four million children nationwide, said Kaycee Headrick, operations director for the club in Larimer County.

This summer in a unique partnership with Kids Cafe, Estes Park is the site of the newest Boys and Girls Club of Larimer County (BGCLC), serving 75 Estes Park children every weekday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. through August 8.

"The Kids Cafe volunteers approached the Food Bank for Larimer County about the need for programming," said Headrick. "The Food Bank asked Boys & Girls Club to consider a summer program in partnership with Kids Cafe. With assistance from the Estes Park Fund of the Community Foundation, Estes Park Rotary, and an anonymous donor, the pilot program was initiated. "

Kids Cafe was started locally in 2010 by Louise Olsen, an active Estes Park volunteer. "This whole thing started with her and her concern for kids," said Kathy Littlejohn, Kids Cafe volunteer. "The rest of us joined her, but without her insight the program probably wouldn't have begun."

Kids Cafe is a Larimer County Food Bank program which provides free breakfast and lunch to Estes Park children, aged 3-18, during the summer (this year, through August 8). Children ages 3-5 must be accompanied by an adult.

Although combined with the Boys and Club this year, Kids Cafe is still open to those needing its services; breakfast is served at 8 a.m. and lunch at noon.

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Anne Pierson, a Kids Cafe volunteer for the past few summers and a third-year ESL teacher at the Estes Park Middle School, is the site coordinator for the BGCLC in Estes Park. "I welcomed the opportunity to be able to work with the Kids' Cafe volunteers and kids for another summer," Pierson said; "Our Estes Park BGCLC serves kids from 6 - 13.

"Our goal is to provide a safe and educational place where kids are comfortable being themselves," she added; one of the unique aspects of Boys and Girls Club is there are many planned activities, but the kids get to choose what they would like to do. Therefore, there are several programs and activities running simultaneously throughout the day.

The mission of all Boys and Girls Clubs is to " provide an environment (places, youth development professionals, and programs) that helps children and youth 6-18 develop to their full potential," Headrick explained. "Programming includes arts, character and leadership development, education, technology & career development, health and life skills, and sports/fitness/recreation.

"The outcomes we are striving for include: academic success (each member earns a diploma and has a plan for the future), good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles," Headrick said.

Joining Pierson at the BGCLC are several program aides, including 2013 Estes Park High School graduate Amber Lorenz, home for the summer from her studies at Haverford College in Pennsylvania.

Lorenz is attending Haverford on a Questbridge Scholarship, "which pairs low-income, high-achieving students with liberal arts colleges all over the country," she said. Essentially, it's a full-ride scholarship, but she contributes to financing her education with some of her summer income and work study during the school year.

"I work about 10 hours a week in the library," Lorenz explained. Although she will be not declaring her major until after her sophomore year, right now Lorenz is planning on majoring in English with a teaching certification, and perhaps a minor in Spanish.

Mariana Marshall, another program aide, recently moved to Estes Park. She had worked with the National Park Service for the past three years as an interpretive ranger, but decided to work at the club this summer "because of the kids," she said.

"I'm excited how motivated they already are," said Marshall on Tuesday of this week, the first day the kids attended the club. "We have a lot of things planned for the summer: we will have an author's club, where they can write their own novels, yoga and dance classes, sports (we hope to get to the pool two days a week), outdoor education culminating in a camping trip, a literary program, and a math program."

To encourage good citizenship, "we are giving out awards to those who are caught doing good," Marshall said.

Program aide Ariel Armelino of Loveland, is a graduate student getting her masters degree in couples and family counseling. "I really wanted to be a part of this new club," she said, "where I can still work with kids and the need in Estes Park has been so huge."

Junior staff member Jerad Bussell attends Fort Collins High School and is also a program aide, concentrating on the physical education of the club participants. "I like to work with kids, it's the perfect opportunity," said Bussell of his summer job.

For the Estes Park BGCLC, enrollment is currently full, but "we hope to be able to offer this program next year as well and reach more kids," Headrick said. BGCLC have clubhouses in several other Larimer County communities, some of them have afterschool clubhouses and yearound programming. For now, the Estes Park program is limited to the summer.

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